With farmer anger on the rise, protests and farm politics are intensifying in the region which has groomed prominent politicians.

Latur: Khandu Adatrao had to give up agriculture to end his family’s indebtedness that drove his father to suicide.

He was happy growing pulses just four years ago when he could sell tur, or pigeon pea, for a good rate of Rs 108/ kg, “In 2016, our Prime Minister had appealed to the farmers to increase area under pulses and many farmers did so, but due to heavy imports, I had to sell tur at Rs 49/kg in 2016, which was a shock for me,” recalls Khandu, who now rears silk worms, which helped him pay his last loan instalment of Rs 50,000 this month.

Things turned sour just when farmers in Maharashtra were dreaming of good days ahead as the price of tur shot up to nearly Rs 200/kg in 2016 after production fell 18% to 16.3 million tonnes over two years.

The government responded swiftly with strong policy support that led to a record output of 23.1 million tonnes in 2016-17. Having achieved what the Directorate of Pulses proudly describes as “a grand success story and revolution in pulses selfsufficiency”, in the same year imports almost doubled to 11.3 million tonnes, exposing farmers to a glut.

Production has now fallen, but so have the prices. “In my lifetime, I have never seen prices ruling lower even when production is lower,” said Jairaj Mahalingappa Auti, a trader at the Ousa market.

Traders said prices depend on unpredictable policies, with market fundamentals having little impact. Earlier, demand and supply determined prices, said industry veteran and president of Latur Dal Millers’ Association Hukumchand Kalantri. “These days, it is the government policies, which decide price fluctuations, which are very difficult to predict,” he said.

Poor rainfall has made matters worse for farmers like Mahadev Boyane, who borrowed money at an exorbitant rate of 3% a month after pledging his wife’s jewellery and is struggling.

“Prices of farm commodities always increase only when farmers have sold them off. All that we want is good rate for the crops we produce,” said Boyane.

He had sown tur on one acre, sugarcane on 2 acres and moong on half an acre. He used the little water that was available to irrigate sugarcane, which did well, but from the rest of his farm, he harvested barely 50 kg of tur and 15 kg of moong. His cane is worth Rs 1.5 lakh but will be used to repay Rs 2.5 lakh he borrowed for the angioplasty of his father, who died last month.

With farmer anger on the rise, protests and farm politics are intensifying in the region which has groomed prominent politicians like Vilasrao Deshmukh, who was twice chief minister of Maharashtra, and Shivraj Patil, who was India’s home minister.

Suresh Agrawal, president of the All India Dal Millers’ Association, met Nitin Gadkari last week to seek an end to imports, which are still continuing, although with restrictions.

Arrival of tur in the market began a month ago but it took Kaji Mansur, a trader from Ousa, 25 days to buy what he usually purchases in five days. At the neighbouring mandi, the largest primary market of grains in the state, daily arrival of tur is just about 4,000 quintals against the normal 10,000 quintals.

Despite low arrivals, farmers are getting only Rs 5,000-5,200 per quintal against the MSP of Rs 5,675.

With prices remaining low, Khandu Adatrao is happy to have shifted from agriculture to silk farming, and recalls his father’s misery. “It wasn’t the burden of loan or failure of one particular crop but the frustration that he couldn’t achieve anything in his life of 60 years and give a respectable life to his family despite all the hard work in farming,” he said.

Long before the suicide, the farmer had dug a well himself in a year, a herculean task which seemed much easier than the five-year struggle to get electricity to pump out water. However, the well caved in gradually. His children had to drop out of school and dreams of a good life were shattered, leading to depression and suicide.

“My husband may not have done what my son is doing. My husband always grew food. It did not give him any money,” recalls Sindhubai Adatrao, Kahandu’s mother.

Economists say weak prices are aggravating rural distress. Earlier, market prices were usually higher than the support price. “In recent years, while cost of production is increasing, there is no increase in market prices and farmers are often not able to even cover their paid out costs,” said Sangeeta Shroff, Professor, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics and in charge of Agro-Economic Research Centre, established by the agriculture ministry.

Madan Sabanvis, chief economist, CARE Ratings said limited irrigation and fall in prices after a good crop hurts farmers. “Therefore, there has been a movement away from agriculture in general (not just foodgrains but also non-foodgrains). They have tended to migrate to the urban areas and gone into construction activity where there is assurance of income.”